The road to this point has been anything but easy. The band came together in early 1996, where they played their first show at the legendary 924 Gilman in Berkeley, CA (the punk collective where bands such as Green Day, AFI and Rancid got their start), opening for longtime hometown friends AFI and in fact borrowing their drummer Adam Carson. No one would deny the band's sound and vision belonged to founder Nick 13. Enter Jeff Roffredo and James Meza, stand-up bass and drums respectively. A longtime acquaintance of Nick's, Roffredo was in seminal West Coast psychobilly band Cosmic Voodoo and later a founding member of Calavera. Part of the same tiny tribe of musicians playing psychobilly in California in the 1990's, 13 had even discussed playing on the first Tiger Army album with Roffredo at one point. James Meza was already a friend of 13's and had spent time in a number of local Los Angeles psychobilly outfits, including one with Roffredo as well as drumming for the Nekromantix on a U.S. tour.

This was to be the new Tiger Army as they embarked on their longest tour yet, a nine-and-a-half week, 46 show odyssey supporting the legendary Social Distortion on a full U.S. tour -- a trial by fire, to be sure. Despite the odds, the new lineup has a chemistry all it's own and is said by many to be the band's tightest and best-sounding line-up live to date! The Dark Romance Tour proved with its attendances (the band's best) and numerous sold-out shows. Nick 13 is a man with a mission, Tiger Army a band with a vision. Listen to the latest album "III: Ghost Tigers Rise" to hear the passion, energy and originality that is Tiger Army - if you haven't yet, you need to find out what you've been missing.